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Sunday, June 18, 2017

BRIT SPY—THE SANDBAGGERS

BRIT SPY—THE
SANDBAGGERS

Premiering a decade after the quintessential ‘60s British
espionage series Callan—written about
in a previous column—The Sandbaggers
set the standard for British TV spies in the late ‘70s. Created by Ian
Mackintosh, it starred Roy Marsden as spy master Neil Burnside. This was long
before Marsden became indelibly linked to his portrayal of detective Adam
Dalgliesh, created by P. D. James.

Running from 1978 to 1980, The Sandbaggers was grounded in the reality, the scut work, and the
day to day grind of the espionage game and those who choose, willingly or not,
to play it. There were no gadgets, no megalomaniacal malefactors bent on world
domination, no henchmen with shark teeth or deadly bowler hats, no villains’
lairs hidden in volcanos, underseas, or outer space, and only one explosion in
the entire series—which took place in the first episode. Somehow, however, this
world of whispers, glances, and devious maneuvering becomes riveting, breath
holding, must see DVD TV.

Series creator Ian Mackintosh, was a lifelong naval officer
who was possibly involved in espionage
during his career—more on this point later. In developing The Sandbaggers, he wanted to get as close to the real world of
espionage as possible. To this end, he employed his own specialized knowledge
of the UK espionage nexus and the modus operandi of the various branches. This
effort at getting close to the truth caused great authoritarian concern. Fearing
the show would reveal actual Crown secrets, the government required every
episode to be reviewed and given a security clearance before being produced.
One episode was axed and never filmed because it was judged to infringe on the
Official Secrets Act.

The lynchpin of The
Sandbaggers is taciturn Neil Burnside, Deputy Director of Operations of the
UK Special Intelligence Service (SIS). His most closely guarded resource is his
Special Operations Section, known as Sandbaggers—a
term used to define those who deceive others about their real intentions or
abilities for gain.

Burnside is on a constant slow burn—calm on the outside, raging
on the inside. He is smart, obsessed with his work, passionate about protecting
his unit, and willing to do anything—no matter how dirty—to get his job done.
Constantly in trouble with his superiors, he is a ruthless adversary, and not a
man to cross unless you want your career, your freedom—or possibly your life—to
end.

Special Operations doesn't mean going in with all guns blazing. It
means special planning, special care, fully briefed agents in possession of all
possible alternatives. If you want James Bond, go to your library. But if you
want a successful operation, sit at your desk and think, and then think again.
Our battles aren't fought at the end of a parachute. They're won and lost in
drab, dreary corridors in Westminster...

— Neil Burnside —

While Sandbaggers #2 and #3 are often killed and replaced,
Sandbagger #1—Willy Caine—is a survivor despite, or maybe because of, his
aversion to questionable undertakings and his phobia toward guns. Jeff Ross is
the head of the CIA in London, who is Burnside’s ally and secret weapon. Diane
Lawler runs the Sandbaggers’ logistics. Her wry and dry sense of humor adds
balance to the otherwise grimly austere tone of the show.

Burnside’s duties most often confine him to seedy,
interchangeable, government offices. His immediate adversaries are not those of
a foreign power, but petty British government officials—with more power than
sense—who argued constantly about how to handle every given situation. The
majority of the interference comes from the Director of SIS known as only as C. Next in order of aggravation is
Burnside’s counterpart, Deputy Director Matthew Peele, a man who deeply
mistrusts Burnside. And finally there is Burnside’s ex-father-in-law, Sir
Geoffrey Wellingham, a sometimes ally sometimes foe, who is the Permanent
Undersecretary of State. To these men who opposed Burnside, agents in the field
are a commodity to be used as bargaining chips and sacrificed as often as pawns
on a chessboard.

Constantly fighting for people and resources, Burnside is
never able to field more than three Sandbaggers—less if one is killed on
assignment. As a result, there are too many complex missions and too few
Sandbaggers to minimize risks. Burnside is constantly weighing those risks
against possible rewards. Often, he is compelled to make the dark choice of
putting the sovereignty of the British government above the life of his agents.

The scenarios confronting The Sandbaggers are frequently ambiguous. There is never enough
data, evidence, or time for Burnside to make informed life-or-death decisions.
Instead, missions are run based on innuendo, rumors, and half-truths—situational guesses. Plans and strategies
are heatedly discussed by government toadies jockeying for political favor and
position. Miscommunication, and sometimes downright disinformation, is rampant.
Bad luck and deadly coincidences abound. The screws on Burnside are constantly tightened,
sometimes viciously twisted. Everyone, including allies, have hidden agendas.

Broadcast at the height of the Cold War, The Sandbaggers played into the public
fears of communism and foreign powers. Real countries and stories ripped from
fearmongering headlines drove the storylines, the accompanying high stakes and
intense urgency of unfolding history palpably riveting. The Sandbaggers don’t always win. Agents die, information is
leaked, situations might not be what they appear—all of which can cause
missions to go dramatically tits up,
with caustic fallout and more finger pointing than a proctologist convention.

In July 1979, halfway through the writing of the third
season of The Sandbaggers, creator
and head writer Ian Mackintosh disappeared under mysterious and conspiracy
theory riddled circumstances. A light aircraft carrying Mackintosh, Susan
Insole (Mackintosh’s girlfriend), and pilot Graham Barber vanished over the
Gulf of Alaska. There was a distress signal sent, but no survivors or wreckage
were ever found. The mystery is further complicated by two factors: Barber
failed to file a flight plan, and the plane made an unexplained stop at a
disused World War II airfield.

Mackintosh left behind four completed scripts for The Sandbaggers, including the finale.
Other writers were brought in to round out the full season of episodes, but the
magic of The Sandbaggers resided in Mackintosh—who
had written all the episodes of the first two seasons. In a story as complicated
and ambiguous as the show itself, The
Sandbaggers was cancelled.

Robert G. Folsom's 2012 biography, The Life and Mysterious Death of Ian MacKintosh, delves deeply into
the circumstances of Mackintosh’s death, his naval career (for which he was
awarded an MBE), and his success as a television writer.

Two TV tie-ins to The
Sandbaggers were published in paperback by Corgi. The first was written by
Ian Mackintosh, novelizing two of his scripts from the show’s first season, and
published in 1978.

The second tie-in novel is much more rare. Published in 1980, The Sandbaggers: Think of a Number is an
original novel written by Donald Lancaster—a pseudonym for Australian mystery
novelist William Marshall, best known for his Yellow Thread Street mystery
series. In the wake of Mackintosh’s disappearance (and to take cynical
advantage of the accompanying headlines), Marshall was given ten days by the
publisher to turn in the manuscript. Given the time constraint, and the fact he
was working off a binge viewing (way before it became common place) of the
first season of The Sandbaggers,
Marshal created in a remarkably good story.

Today, The Sandbaggers
deservedly remains one of the best espionage shows ever written. The three
seasons of the show are available individually or in a DVD boxed set, and the
tie-in novels can be tracked down with minor effort.

— ADDENDUM —

In 2001, bestselling author Greg Rucka began writing Queen and Country, a series of comic
books heavily inspired by The Sandbaggers.
Rucka stated at the time, There don’t
seem to be many of us who know the glory of The Sandbaggers, but those who do
and read the comic, it’s my sincere hope they’ll smile a bit and nod a bit, and
recognize the debt I’m trying to pay. While Queen and Country is essentially The Sandbaggers: The Next Generation, Rucka’s handling of the
series is nothing short of brilliant. The nine storylines from the original 32 issues
of Queen and Country were later collected
as graphic novels. Queen and Country focus
on Tara Chace, an operative of the Special Operations Section (nicknamed minders as a substitution for sandbaggers) of Britain’s Secret
Intelligence Service. As in The
Sandbaggers, the action in Queen and
Country is driven by maneuverings and political double dealings of
government officials—all of which endangers the lives of the minders in the harsh environments of the
field where they operate.Tara Chance is not the traditional glamorous comic book
heroine—far from it. She is a dressed down, hard-bitten spook realistically portrayed.
Playing in the sandbox with her are two other minders, the former Head of
Special Section Tom Wallace, and Edward Kittering. Other characters include
Director of Operations Paul Crocker, Deputy Chief of Service Donald Weldon,
Chief of Service Frances Barclay—who is, not surprisingly, commonly referred to
as C. There's a trick, they teach it to you at the School. When someone pulls
a gun on you, they say, ‘charge at him like a bloody lunatic. It's the last
thing they expect and most of them can't hit water from a submarine anyway...and
repeat to yourself over and over you're doing this for Queen and Country.’

— Tara Chace, Operation: Broken
Ground —

With the success
of the comic series, Rucka expanding his characters into a series of successful
novels. A Gentleman's Game, was
published in 2004, featuring Tara Chace and making reference to the events of
the comic book series. Private Wars followed in 2005 and takes place a
few months after the end of the comic series A third Queen and Country
novel, The Last Run, was released in October 2010.

The Queen and
Country graphic novels were later continued in the form of three prequels
referred to as Queen and Country:
Declassified. The first two were written by Rucka and the third by Antony
Johnston under Rucka's supervision. They deal specifically with the past
missions of various characters.

Four Queen and CountryDefinitive Edition collections are available covering the full run
of the original stories and the later prequels. My recommendation is track them
down immediately.